The girl's mother, Bonnie Halstead, said something had obviously been wrong.

"{She was] being quiet. Simple little things that we simply shrugged off as teenage things," she said.

No one knows for sure why Kat took her own life, but her school and the surrounding community have rallied around her and her family.

"So many people said she inspired her. In so many ways, it's emotional," Ronald Halstead said.

"The faculty at Lee Road, Covington High, the band, the students -- they've all come together. It's just been overwhelming," Bonnie Halstead said.

The Halsteads said Kat vowed her entire life to make a difference and to change things.

"She said she would change the world, and if this takes -- and maybe she's that role model for getting that suicide awareness out there. I'm very proud to say she's my daughter," Bonnie Halstead said.

With suicide at record levels on the North Shore, her parents said now is not the time to be cutting and closing mental health programs.

"You can't take that away from somebody. It could be someone else's child out there. It could be somebody else," Bonnie Halstead said.

Louisiana is already on the verge of closing Southeast Louisiana Hospital and curtailing other critical programs.

"It almost seems to defy logic that we would even consider trying to address this crisis with few assets and resources," St. Tammany Parish Sheriff Jack Strain said.

"When you have a child, they don't hand you a book that says, 'Here's how you deal with this.' That's what we're for. We're here to help guide people to do that," National Alliance on Mental Illness spokesman Nick Richard said.

A rally to save Southeast Louisiana Hospital is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday at Mandeville City Hall.

If you or someone you know may be thinking about suicide, call 1-800-273-TALK.

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